


A family secret - An X File

by An_outsider_looking_in



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Alternate Universe, Family, Gen, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Shapeshifting, The Truth is Out There
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:55:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 13
Words: 6,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25547053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/An_outsider_looking_in/pseuds/An_outsider_looking_in
Summary: Juliet has a rare ability. Unbeknownst to most of her family. However when she fakes her own death and moves halfway across the country, it becomes clear that she isn't the only thing her family has kept secret.
Relationships: Dana Scully/Walter Skinner, Fox Mulder/Dana Scully
Kudos: 8





	1. How did you get here?

I was born to a loving Mother and troubled Father. She had moved to England to be with him despite contradiction from her own father and brother. The move from Washington to London would be a significant one and couldn't be reversed simply.

I was born a year into their marriage, after my older brother whom. He was the reason she left so abruptly. A baby is the best way to pin a person down.

* * *

I was unlike other children, I had an ability to shape shift. Cruelly, when I was a baby, I would change into other children. Children who I saw around the playgrounds. It scared my mother half to death, thinking she had bought the wrong child home. Eventually she began to understand my gift, the naive testing of a young mind. It was not spoken of, nor was it public knowledge. She carried this secret to the grave. 

Her death marked significant change in our household. After her funeral, I knew I could no longer live under that roof.

* * *

In my teen years I turned myself into various people I would see in magazines. That's the thing. I am only able to turn into people who already exist.

Some would say it is luck that my uncle is Fox Mulder, special agent and investigator of the unusual. I would say that its fate. After my Mother died, I had no reason to stay around London. Dad was in and out of prison, always on the look out for any upcoming criminal venture. My brother had moved out and was living with his boyfriend.

* * *

So. I died. A clean swoop from existence.

* * *

It was believable enough to buy myself an escape. I had seeked help from my grandfather, he had ways of arranging things like this. 

He was a man with no name. Part of an elite group of men, distinguished by habit. I had met him before, I knew the side that the world wasn't allowed to. He had made himself known to me, my whereabouts was on his radar. My gift was something he knew about.

* * *

I hadn't maintained many connections to my family in Washington. By all accounts they had not been best impressed by my Mother's decision to move. Yet they all came to her funeral, faces who I had seen in videos and pictures. More recently I had seen Fox in the newspaper, scandal followed him. He dealt in taboo, investigated what people like to gawk at. Things that people didn't like filling their daily papers.

* * *

I was at my funeral. Ofcourse I didn't look like me, I had to rebrand. I had taken a photo from a recent obituary and became her. It was hard to maintain the shape and any sudden burst or emotional change might compromise my appearance.

Fox was there, so was Dana Scully and her husband, Walter Skinner. It was an icy mood as the coffin was lowered. My Father hadn't shown up; this gave me some relief. 

"She just couldn't take the loss," said Tony, my brother.

"It's a tragic tale," Dana patted his arm.

Fox didnt turn away from the coffin. He was wearing shades and a long black jacket. He had barely spoken to anyone and as the final words were muttered, he walked away.

I watched him for a moment. He walked away.

It was an insult for him that Dana was flaunting the man she had left him for.

* * *

After the funeral, I walked to the black car and peered through the smoke filled window.

"Ready?" He asked.

"Yeah," I smiled and sat beside him. Finally able to return to my natural form, a twenty year old girl, whose hair never quite stayed in place. The window closed, it was tinted so the outside world wouldn't catch a glimpse. 

* * *

I watched as we drove away, a new life awaited me.


	2. Nobody said it was easy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Her memories haunt her, as Juliet adjusts to her new life.

Juliet opened her eyes. She couldn't move her arms or legs. The room was black, her screams were dry air. Someone held her head down as her legs were parted. Cold, clammy hands against her bare skin.

She saw her father's men. Panic overcame her, they laughed at her. Ear piercing sniggers.

* * *

She jolted awake.

"Hey, woah," said a familiar voice as Juliet looked around the room. She was sweat drenched, kicking the sheets off the bed.

"You've been asleep for hours," he said.

"Where am I?" Juliet asked, looking around the disorganised room. 

"No.42, the apartment you've been in for two days now."

"Huh?" Her heart raced.

"You're in bed, you've been here a few days, don't you remember?" Fox said and sat beside her.

"I don't understand."

"What were you dreaming about?" 

"It was a memory," she stood up and wandered to the bathroom.

"We were talking last night, don't you remember?" He asked her.

"No, the last thing I remember was travelling, I was in a black car," Juliet shut the bathroom door.

Her breaths were exasperated as she sat on the toilet. She closed her eyes, fearful of what was waiting behind the lids.

She looked at herself in the mirror, her reflection was different. Her brunette had faded back to blonde, her eyes were lightening.

There was a small needle puncture in her arm.

* * *

A few moments later, she re-entered to find Fox sitting at his desk.

"Fox, why am I here?" She asked

Juliet poured herself a coffee from the machine on the clustered counter. Retrieving a mug amongst the busy sink. She took a seat on the crowded sofa.

"Why I am here?"

"You asked for a new life, as the details are ironed out, you are staying here"."I figured he thinks they won't look here."

"Why wouldn't they?"

"FBI's most unwanted?" He shrugged.

Juliet looked around her surroundings, the apartment was poorly maintained. An empty fish tank of dirty water sat in the corner of the room, and numerous articles of clothing were laying around. Files in folders covered the coffee table.

"Ok princess, I know it's not perfect," he began.

"Its fine," she lied.

"Being fired from the FBI should mean I have time on my hands, evidently not spent cleaning," he shrugged.

"I'm grateful, I am but I wanted a new life, not to inconvenience someone else's and I figure I need a job, and..."

"Calm down, things need to settle before you can be integrated into society."

"But I'm dead, I was at the funeral."

Fox shrugs, pulling out a packet of cigarettes

"Death does not mean invisibility, whoever hurt you, frightened you so much that you gave it all up, well they might still be looking."

"Since when do you smoke?"

"I dont know that I do yet, Scully once told me I shouldn't," he shrugged unwrapping the packet.

She watched as he lit a cigarette. He choked on it and stubbed it out.

"Guess she was right."

* * *

Juliet looked at files, each began with an X before a series of numbers.

"I grabbed all I could, I knew that I wouldn't be allowed back," he said.

"This should not be happening, grandpa said that it would be easy, I could just start over," she said.

"He's head of the FBI, his every move watched, nothing is ever that easy."

* * *

"Fox?" she asked as he picked at a handful of sunflower seeds. He was uncomfortable by her using his first name and requested that she call him Mulder. He said it would remind him of when he had an ounce of authority in his life.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"This isn't right, is it?" 

"The world seems a bit awry, yeah I noticed that too," he said.

She felt something, a flash of uncertainty. Her grandfathers face was not one that seemed trustworthy 

* * *

As Juliet reclines into the sofa, her original self emerges.

"Hey! You can't do that, you don't know whose watching!" He panics, pulling the curtain across the filthy windows. 

"Its involuntary," Juliet looks around for someone to change into, the only magazines she can spot are pornagraphic. The only images, from crime scenes.

Mulder passes her a file, encased in a bag.

"Use this," he said and she finds a photo in the bag. The bag is familiar, it has some clothes and a syringe.

"Whats this for?" She asks.

"You don't remember anything from your arrival?" 

She shakes her head, resuming the image of the brunette.

"It freezes your image, doesn't disable the ability but it means that the form you are in once administered, remains the default," he said.

She looked at him with, realising that she would never again be able to look like her old self. Her dead self.

"Fine," she injects the fluid into her arm, a second of dizziness overcomes her. Her skin, almost like glue, bonds in place. 

* * *

"Guess that's final then." He smirks as she adjusts to her new image


	3. Holding onto hope

A knock at the door woke them up, Juliet peered over at the clock. It was 7am. 

She listened, one eye open as Mulder climbed off the sofa. Juliet had been instructed not to open the door or infact cause any suspicion of existing at all. Despite the fact that her new image was that of a thirty year old woman.

She listened, carefully sitting on the floor just to enhance the volume of the conversation. 

* * *

"Scully?" He asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Yeah I hope this isn't a bad time, but I came to bring you this," she passed him a small plastic wallet.

"What's this?"

"I was hoping you could tell me, jeez Mulder is this some sort of joke," she peered over his shoulder, the grimy apartment repulsed her.

"Do you know the reason we broke up?" He asked her.

"Mulder I don't know what's going on but it's not my problem, anymore," she scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"No I'm serious, can you remember, did it even happen... see I'm working on this project and..."

"I'm going to stop you there, probably save you a lot of time too. The simple fact of it is that you were never there, you were a tempting risk that I took and one that not only cost me my job but almost my life on numerous occasions."

He looked at her. "But it's not real, you see this is some other world, a plane of existence that is wrong" he began explaining.

"It was real, not knowing where you were, if you were even in the country. Mulder not everything is an X File." 

"See that's just it, your brain has programmed those memories, experiences, here me out Scully I..."

"Goodbye Fox," she turned to walk away and he grasped her wrist. She pulled her arm away.

"Dana listen to me please, I can fix this."

"You can't." 

"For your information what we had was real, Every last second of it. When you decide to grow up and cease to live in this world of conspiracies, you'll see that aliens and parallel worlds are just stories."

"I resent that, you worked on the X files, you seen things, unexplainable things," Mulder looked at her.

Scully shrugged, "I was there to provide reason in contrary to your crazy theories."

"You don't want to remember."

"I'm going to be late." She said.

"Late to what, who works down there these days? Doggett?" 

"The X files was shut down. You know that." Scully walked away. Mulder closed the door, throwing the plastic file onto the table amongst the wreckage of other theories and investigations. He sits down in a rare clear spot on the sofa and buries his head in his hands.

* * *

"You ok?" Juliet walked into the living room.

"Yeah, I'm used to being called crazy. Just never thought I'd hear it from her."

"They need help, they don't realise, I'm sure that this is all wrong," he continued to talk in riddles and unclear sentences.

* * *

Scully walked down the corridor and climbed into her car. Skinner was sitting beside her. 

"How was he?"

"Arrogant," she started the engine.

"He has no idea what he put me through," she smiles.

"Did you really expect him to care, he's egotistical," said Skinner.

"He was talking about a project, believes we are existing in some kind of other world," Scully laughs.

"Dana, he's unable to see what he lost, I'd dream up some other world too if I lost you."

They drive away. The idea is planted in Scully's head but her curiosity peaks as she arrives at the hospital to begin her shift.

* * *

Mulder sits in his apartment, Juliet is nursing a coffee. 

"Kid, wanna watch a movie?" He breaks his silence eventually and she agrees to watch one of his old Sci fi VHS tapes.

That night she begins a journal, it's clear that her transition into society will be a lengthy process.

"Why are you convinced that this isn't the right world?" Juliet asked.

"It's more than a feeling, things are just not right, I don't know what caused it but I know it's not right."

* * *

Juliet falls asleep, Mulder opens the plastic wallet that Scully handed him.

Enclosed within the file is a disc, written on the disc it says 

_Help_


	4. If you had everything, would you give it up?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mulder faces Skinner who is less that interested in his theories

"Is Scully in?" Skinner opened the door to find a sweaty Mulder. A strange smell wafted from his unwashed blue shirt. 

"Not that it's any of your business, but she's at work." Skinner was buttoning up his cufflinks.

"When will she be home?"

"Mulder, I don't care whatever little pity project you are on, I have a life and so does Dana," Skinner said and grabbed his blazer and car keys. He wore a beige jacket over a white shirt.

"Yeah but it isn't the right life, things are not as they were meant to be it's complicated. I guess as I no longer work for you, my peculiar theories are not your burden."

Skinner's brow furrows. 

"Work for me? You've never worked for me,"

"Don't pretend you weren't the one shutting my ideas down, mr.Assistant Director."

"Assistant director, what are you talking about, I would never take a position as time consuming as that. Besides with your Father running the bureau, I'd never be considered for a promotion."

"Sir, I think you've been affected by the events of this world, I think..."

"Fox, go home , take a shower and let her go." Skinner was insistent 

"No, you don't understand..."

"Nor do I want to, I'm not obliged to hear your theories and crazy ideas."

Skinner unlocks his car, Mulder blocks the door. 

"Sir, hear me out?"

"Mulder, go home! Dana is happy, finally she is able to enjoy herself, her evenings, without having to chase you around the globe. Stop dragging her down to your level." Skinner pushes Mulder out of the way.

"You don't want things to go back, do you? What did they offer you, they gave you her, is that it?"

"Dana is her own woman. Deal with the fact she chose to spend her life with me," Skinner roles up the window.

"She wasn't given a choice!" 

Skinner doesn't respond, he instead pulls off the drive. Almost knocking Mulder over as he leaves. 

* * *

More confused than when he set out, Mulder heads home. 

Walking through town, he happens to pass a book store. A particular title catches his eye. A large poster fills the window. Stacks of books line it.

' _How we found the little green men by the Lone gunmen'_

Below this were quotes from reviews and a blurb.

_"The book that the government never wanted you to read - an in depth exploration of the best kept conspiracy"_

The cover features the three familiar faces, standing together with a latex alien costume on the floor. They are each suited and nearly indistinguishable by costume.

A sudden flash of recognition overcomes Mulder. He knows them. The poster says they will be appearing in person tomorrow. 


	5. Old friends

Mulder unlocked his door, he was startled to find his father sitting on the sofa. His hand was in Juliet's. He stared at her, her face was morbid.

"Good Morning," Mulder said, throwing his satchel onto the table. He was confused.

"Fox, hello," the cancer man stood up and smiled at him. 

"What are you doing here?" Mulder asked. 

"Son, you really need to leave Scully alone." 

"How do you know about that?" Mulder asks as his Father leaves the flat 

* * *

"What did he want?" Mulder asked Juliet, she was clutching an A3 envelope.

"He came by," she said.

"Everyone is so damn secretive, listen I have to go out a bit later, will you be ok?" Mulder stated.

"That's ok." 

* * *

Juliet turned on the TV, resting her head on the back of her hand. Mulder noticed her face and sat beside her.

"I haven't forgotten about you, Its just I have an opportunity here to figure this out."

"It's fine, honestly," said the stroppy young adult.

Mulder placed his hand on her shoulder. 

* * *

Later that day, he walked towards the lift, he could feel someone watching him. Not lingering on this, he steps into the lift. He knows he has to try to see the gunmen before the talk.

Wandering into the book store, he sees the queue building. Posters of the book are everywhere. The slight chatter of people in the background.

"Frohike!" He exclaims, seeing his former friend. It flooded back to him, working with them on cases. He remembered the comradery, the multiple instances where their intellect saved him. 

"Sir, you'll have to wait in the queue," said the short spectacle wearing man. 

"Frohike, don't you remember me?"

"If I've met you before, then do excuse me, we sign a lot of books in a lot of places," Langley joined him.

"And he goes by Melvin, using last names is for frat boys," Richard Langley corrected Mulder.

"Are you a fan of our work?" Melvin asked.

"No, well I haven't read it, we worked together, don't you remember? On the X files," said Mulder.

A large security guard appeared behind Mulder.

"Sir, you need to step aside," said the guard.

"It's ok we're friends," Mulder said.

"Remove this gentleman please," instructed Richard.

Mulder struggled as the guard led him off.

* * *

"What was that?" Asked Byers as he buttoned his jacket.

"A disbeliever, John, there will be quite a few," said Richard. 

"Yeah, always one crazy at these," Melvin cleaned his glasses.

* * *

"Try to remember!" Mulder yelled as he was dragged out. The gunmen ignored him.  
He adjusted his creased shirt. 

"It's grey men, aliens are grey," he scoffed.

* * *

The lone gunmen spared no time as they mounted the stage and loaded the presentation. 

Many people were excitable as the store began to distribute tickets for the signing.

* * *

Mulder felt disheartened, yet another lead had been a waste of time.

He walked into his building, and headed up to the apartment. On the doorstep was a brown envelope. Opening the door, he unwrapped the package.

Inside was a copy of the lone gunmen book, a note strapped inside the cover. 

"Help" it said, and an address. Similar to the note from Scully.


	6. Some lies...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Juliet stumbles across a file that she wishes she hadn't

When Juliet awoke, she looked around the apartment.

Mulder wasn't in, a factor that was getting used to.

* * *

Meanwhile, Byers sat beside the gunmen on a panel. His phone buzzes and he sneaks a look into his pocket. 

"John, how did it feel when you stumbled across the space craft?" An eager audience member asks.

In a trance, he doesn't hear the question. 

"John," Langley nudges him.

"Sorry, I, well in our book you shall find all the answers you need," he smiles, his mind still fixated on the text. The rapturous ramifications that could come from him merely reading the text are lost on him. He sweats, his hands are shaky as he tries to maintain a level of attention to the panel.

After a few more questions, the talk is over. Frohike corners Byers at the end.

"You need to be focused, we have come too far," he said.

"I'm sorry, it was a family thing," Byers said.

"You need to get yourself together."

"I will," Byers says, excusing himself from the flashes of the paparazzi.

* * *

Juliet sits alone in the apartment, it's almost 2pm. She has watched all the films on the shelf. Its time, she decides, to attempt to find something to read. The bookshelf is lined with sci fi fiction novels and UFO non fiction.

Bored and ready to give up, Juliet pulls out a vast book of conspiracies. Perhaps something in there may satisfy a few hours of tedium.

As she opens the A3 hardback edition, a file falls out from the centre. 

* * *

"Where were you?" Demands a voice as Byers walks into the back room of a bar.

"It was difficult to get away," he says.

"Well we're in deep shit down here, someone has been leaking information to Mulder," Scully says.

"Who?"

"I believe I can answer that," a figure walks into the room. A stream of smoke outlines his silouhette.

* * *

Juliet reads through the file, her hands shake. In which she learns of an alien abduction, her mother. 

The file enlists specific details regarding the abduction, and implanting of a chip into her mother's head. The reason for her Illness is stated as linking to these events.

Juliet lays the file down, the final nail in the coffin. These investigator on the case 

_Agent Fox Mulder_

She shudders. Climbing to her feet and pulling her jacket off the hook.

* * *

Juliet walks for what feels like miles, past clubs and pubs and bars. 

Eventually she stumbles across a bar and wanders in. Her face is clammy, her throat dry.

She walks up to the bar and orders a beer.

"What's a pretty thing like you, doing in a place like this," a man in leather is on the stool beside her.

"I'm not interested."

The man scoffs, taking a sip of his liquor. She notices that he has an artificial hand.

"You need to go home, before you kill anyone else," he says, slamming the empty glass onto the bar. 


	7. Then he was gone

Juliet looked around, she was in the back of a car. Her face was pushed against the leather seat. It was hot and she was sore, her vision was fuzzy. 

Somehow she pushes herself upright, the back of her hands slip on the damp leather.

"I believe that settles our debt," she heard a familiar voice. Her father's was watching from the front seat. 

She looks at him.

"It's ok love, he's a friend," her Father says.

Juliet jolts awake, she rushes to the bathroom and vomits into the toilet. Her head is spinning as she sits beside the bowl, tears in her eyes. It takes a moment to ground herself. 

Pulling herself up by the sink, she peers into the mirror. Her skin is flushed but clear of bruises and cuts.

"He can't hurt you anymore," she mutters. After a shower, she steps into the living room.

* * *

"Where's Dogett?" Dana demands.

The cancer man smiles.

"I'm sorry, he knew all along, we might aswell have him on side," Doggett says, his face sweaty.

"Do you realise what you've done? You've compromised this whole operation!" she yells.

"Dana please, don't be so dramatic, he's right. I want the same as you do," the cancer man exhales smoke.

"He probably did this," she said.

"That may be true but things have changed, a particular variable has come into play. This is now a family matter."

* * *

Juliet sits alone in the apartment for what seems like days. No calls or texts from Mulder. Is he angry? 

There was no note, she sits for a little longer in the darkening room. What's the point in waiting. She begins to worry.   
He does this sometimes, she assures herself.

Sifting through magazines she tries to find a character to become. Eventually she stumbles upon an elderly lady.

She inhibits the appearance and calls the emergency number on the fridge.

* * *

"What's changed?" Byers asks the cigarette man.

"My granddaughter, perhaps is the key to solving this," he says.

* * *

Juliet calls Scully, trying to find something to say, an excuse for the call.


	8. We kinda won?

Juliet waited as the phone rang out.

Scully's phone vibrates as she is beginning an autopsy. Taking off her gloves, Dana answers the phone.

"Scully?"

"Hello, is this Dana?"

"Yes, whose this?"

"I'm Betty, I live next door to your husband, lovely man, Fox."

"Maam he's not my...."

"Yes yes, well I'm calling because he stops by to bring my prescription, only he hasn't been by lately."

"Have you gotten your prescription?"

"Yes my son brought it, I just wanted to know if you knew what happened, he is a very sad man you see?" Juliet tried to maintain the accent of the elderly form.

"I don't, I'll look into it." Scully hung up the phone. 

Juliet lays back on the sofa, she is non the wiser of Mulder's whereabouts.

* * *

Byers is sitting beside Langley in their offices. They are working on a draft of their next book.

"You don't seem present, John," langly turns to him.

"I'm sorry," John says.

"You know you really should be careful, someone might have seen you, Melvin might have, you know how badly he wants this."

Byers chest pounds as Langley warns him.

"Whatever you are doing with them, it won't end well. The smoking man is head of the FBI," he said.

"How do you know all this?" Byers asked.

"Please, I'm a master hacker." 

* * *

Scully wanders into the FBI. Pretending to be part of a tour, she veers off and finds herself in the basement. The familiar poster "I want to believe" greets her.

"Dana?" She hears his voice.

"Mulder?" She steps towards the silouhette.

"Perception is a powerful thing," Skinner walks out of the shadows. Mulder's shadow changes.

"What are you doing here?"

"Stopping you, we have a good life, I won't let you ruin it because of an infatuation, with him , always him" Skinner says. He holds up the disc, the word ' _Help_ ' printed on it. 

"Why?" Scully mutters, a tear in her eye.

"Because I want you. These discs have a corruption setting built in, my friend over at the lone gunmen saw to that, all of the files, the conspiracies, parallel worlds, it ends here Dana."

Skinne grabs her arm and drags her through the building. Onlookers don't react as Scully is pulled violently through the crowd.

* * *

Juliet is half asleep, a loud knock comes from the door. Cautiously she steps over, peering through the peep hole.

She doesn't recognize the face, the man has a narrow face and wide eyes.

"It's Doggett, open up!"

Juliet was hesitant.


	9. Run

Juliet opened the door, the man standing before her was scruffy.    
"We need to get out of here," he muttered, grasping her arm.

"Who are you?"

"My name's John Doggett."

A smell of smoke flustered through the hallway. It seemed to begin from the next room along. 

"No. Stop!" She stopped midway down the hall.

"You need to come now," Doggett said.

Juliet panicked, her thoughts rushed to Mulder. He was still missing.

Juliet was bundled into the car. She sat up, the doors were locked. Looking around, her vision blurred. The smoke had spread and the building was on fire. As the car sped away, she saw fire engines. 

* * *

Scully was performing an autopsy, she 

"Got time for one more," a man uttered as a body was wheeled in. 

"Well I'm about to have lunch," she said, throwing the gloves in the bin.

"There's an urgency for this one this one, an ex agent," he said.

Scully pulled on a new pair of gloves and exhaled. Unzipping the body bag. She stepped back at the sight. 

* * *

"Where are we going?" Juliet asked. 

"It's not safe, here is your new identity," Agent Doggett passed her a file.

"Who was she?" Juliet flicked through the file. It read Monika Reyes.

"It doesn't matter, she's gone," he said.

* * *

After completing the autopsy with shaky hands, Scully decides to call Byers.

Scully picked the mobile phone from her pocket. She called Byers. Drawing the blinds in the office.

"What's wrong?"

"I've just performed an autopsy on Agent Doggett." 

* * *

The car crashes, Juliet is pulled out of the rubble.


	10. It's up to us.

Her vision was blurry as she was dragged out of the rubble. She must have blacked out as when she awoke, she was lying on a black sofa. 

"She's waking up," she heard a familiar voice.

"What happened?" She sat up and looked around. The walls were white, there were pictures on the wall.

"Mulder?" she asked, rubbing her eyes. As her vision cleared she realised it was Krychek. 

She looked around to see a dark, damp basement, she was sleeping in a discarded mattress.

"Sorry to disappoint you," he said.

"Why is this happening?" She looked at her hand, it was bruised, it ached. He wrapped a bandage around her hand.

"Because you have what everyone wants, the gift," Krychek said.

"I didn't ask for any of this, all I wanted was a job, a nice apartment and the love of a good woman, I came here to change my world," she leaned into her hands.

"Life isn't perfect little girl, it's time you realised that,"

* * *

  
"What happened?" Skinner burst into the office

The cigarette smoking man looked up from his desk. A stack of papers lay before him.

"Sorry sir, he just burst in!" The assistant urgently said. He looked at her and she closed the door.

"Walter, take a seat," he said.

"I don't want to take a goddamn seat."

The cigarette smoking man sat in silence. Skinner sat down.

"Need I remind you that you were no one, a joke an assistant director of nothing at all, I gave you a chance," Skinner rolled his eyes as the man lit a cigarette.

"I can take it all away, Mr. Skinner."

"What is your plan?"

"I was part of a syndicate of men who controlled the entire world. Unfortunately they turned on me, leaving no other choice but to stand alone. I was able to alter the world as we know it, I allowed you to be apart of that."

"They're working against us," Skinner said.

"Worry not, I have a weapon in my grasp," Cigarette man said.

"Sort it," Skinner stood up and the cigarette man grabbed his arm.

"You answer to me," He said.

"I have to go," Skinner said.

* * *

Mulder was bloodied and beaten as she drove to the apartment. The car was shaky, horns beeped as he sped.

Fire engines were flashing, smoke could be seen from.a distance. A scent of burning wafted up his nose. He parked the car and hurried over. Being stopped by a police officer.

"Sir, step back," he said.

"I live here," Mulder said, trying to evade the tape.

"There's no getting in there sir," said the officer.

Mulder walked away, pulling his phone out of his pocket. The screen was cracked, he squinted in the black smoke, trying to see the numbers.

He rang Scully. It went to voicemail.

" _Hey, it's Mulder. I know you said not to call but it's an emergency!"_

* * *

Skinner sat back in his chair, the phone was on speaker. Her listened to the message. Her phone was busted a dim light and barely a bar of battery.

"Sorry Fox. She's not available," he said and crushed the phone beneath his foot. 


	11. All at once, I lose myself

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We are nearing the end now. Thank you to those who are reading. I hope to provide a satisfactory ending to this twisty piece. I adore the X files and wanted to pay homage to the characters

My name is Juliet. I'm trying to find my way through this mess. In case I die, I wish it to be known that I never asked for any of this. Being born with the ability to shape shift, might seem impressive or enviable but I assure you - it is not.   
I find myself in the company of Alex Krychek, an unusual man. The location of my uncle, Fox Mulder is unknown. The world seems to be falling to pieces, I don't know who I can trust. 

I suspect the answer is simple, I must trust no one.

* * *

Mulder arrived at Scully's house, his eye was swollen. He struggled to see, his head ached.

"Where is she?" he burst into the house.  
Skinner was sitting on the arm chair, the house had been turned upside down. 

"She's gone, Fox," Skinner said, lighting a cigarette. He offered Mulder a cigarette.

"What have you done to her?" Mulder's hand was shaking as he waved the gun at Skinner.

"Put the gun down, Mulder."

"I don't take orders from you!" Mulder yelled 

"We both wanted the same woman, a messy simulation of a woman we knew," Skinner exhaled smoke. Mulder lowered his gun.

"He tricked us. Look what we've become. You're a nobody, you always were but I could have climbed to the top," he said.

"I saw her," Mulder said, refusing to believe the bumbling garbage of the man at the end of his tether.

"And I held her, I loved her. It wasn't her, it never was."

"You're lying, " Mulder said.

"We both went to her funeral, Fox. The illness took her. It destroyed her. The cancer progressed too fast."

Mulder was confused, he watched Skinner. Skinner's movements were slow.

"She's not real, nor am I, you, what's the point of it. He'll come for us all, the world will crash down," Skinner pulled out a gun. Mulder stepped back.

"This is what he wants, the destruction of the world at his fingertips."

Skinner smirked at Mulder's nervous jolt. "She always did love you." He placed the gun to his temple and pulled the trigger. Blood erupted out of his head as it drooped forward.

* * *

Byers was standing at a podium, he felt a rumble in his gut. Looking to his colleagues, he noticed that they were fading.

He stood up, rushing out of the conference.

"It's too late," Frohike said.

* * *

Juliet was walking through the street, Krychek rushed ahead. His pace quickened as she struggled to keep up.

They arrived at the bar, heading into the back room.

"This is where it began," he said.

"What?"

"His crafting of our world."

* * *

Mulder drove, his head was throbbing. He pulled off the motorway. He couldn't focus, the world was in carnage. Cars left abandoned, blood was spilled.

Closing his eyes, he leant back  
"Dana. I failed," he wept.

Images and memories rushed back to him. He saw her in the hospital, pale and gaunt. Her red hair was thinning. He remembered kissing her, the last time. Holding her hand for as long as he could. The life draining from her skeletal body. She smiled at him, knowing that it would drain her energy.

"I love you," her final words.

* * *

Byers rushed down the motorway, he saw the car. He recognised it somehow.

"Mulder?" He asked, pulling the semi conscious man out of the rubble.

"We need to get out of here!"

* * *

Juliet lay on the sofa, staring at the white ceiling. Cobwebs hung from the decrepit plastering. 

The door opened, she turned. 

* * *

The cigarette smoking man sat in his office. He looked down at the busy Washington streets. The carnage of his own creation. 

A smile crept across his face.

"To kill man is one thing but to kill a man's spirit is perhaps the most beautiful thing," he spoke the words and lit a cigarette. 

Juliet wasn't on his mind, it was far beyond that.

Wreckage of his own manufacturing lined the streets. 

"Now we start over."


	12. The end

_"Why couldn't you just let me make the world, you had to pick flaws, see through me. I respect you Fox, so I'll make this personal," the cigarette man points a gun at Mulder._

_The gun fires._

* * *

The world was in wreckage, smoke rose from buildings as they crumbled. Byers drags Mulder from the car. 

* * *

Juliet is standing by the dock. She looks out, the muffled screams are heard in the distant. The end is coming. 

"Hello dear," she hears a familiar voice. 

"Go away, I'm with someone he'll be back any minute," she calls out.

"Ah yes my useless son, Alex. No I'm afraid you won't be seeing him again," he said, stepping into the light.

"Grandpa?" Juliet asked. She had taken the form of an older woman, long black hair and glasses.

"Yes I'm afraid so," he said

* * *

"Where's Scully?" Mulder garbles as he leans against Byers.

"I don't know, man," Byers says and shifts Mulder.

"Why are we here?" Mulder asks as he takes a seat on a nearby crate.

"Because it's the only place that is yet to fall to pieces," Byers said throwing his phone to the floor.

"The source must be here, the key."

"We're alone now. It's too late!" He stamps on the mobile.

Mulder sees the docks, the commotion erupting. 

* * *

"Why would you want to kill me?" She asks, morphing back to her original form.

"Because you are the reason everything is destroyed, the intricate plans of a desperate man."

* * *

Mulder rushes behind him, Juliet runs. 

The cigarette man is alone.

"Fox," Juliet hugs him.

"We need to get out of here."

"It's too late, it's over," she whispers through tears.

"We are still alive!" Fox mutters.

"All I wanted was to escape my Father's abuse, the favours and pain I faced as a result of his ill judgement. That was not my path, I've come here and everything is broken. I need to fix it!"

"No!" Mulder whispers.

"Goodbye, Fox," Juliet stands up.

* * *

The world turns to blackness, an eruption of light cracks through the sky. Juliet lies in a pool of blood, her body is not her own. 

The cigarette man stands over the bloody corpse of Fox Mulder as it revolts back to her. 

"You silly girl, your power could have been remarkable, no one would ever walk over you again," he steps on the cigarette and takes a seat. 

First hand he watches the world fall inwards.

* * *

"Push, push!" A nurse calls out. Sweat drips into the woman's eyes.

"Congratulations, it's a girl!"

"Oh my," the new mother cries as the wrapped baby is handed to her.

"You are so beautiful," she whispers to tiny baby.

* * *

Mulder awakes suddenly, he looks around covered in cold sweat.

"Mulder what's wrong," he feels her soft hand on his back.

"Scully?" He asks.

"Yeah, ofcourse it's me," she scoffs.

"I love you," he squeezes her.

"Oh brother," she kisses his neck. "You probably ought to shower we have a meeting with Skinner in an hour."

Mulder wanders to the bathroom and looks in the mirror. He feels new, confused. 

* * *

A man clouded by smoke sits in a darkened room.

"I know where it went wrong," he says, taking a drag of the burning cigarette.

"I hope so," says the one man in a black suit. 

"Once more and I will have dominion," he says to the syndicate of men.

* * *

"You are so beautiful, come here sweetie," the new Mother utters and a young boy runs in.  
"Come meet your sister, Juliet," she says. The boy looks at her in awe.

"Where's your Father?" She asks the young boy. He shrugs.

"Ah I see," the woman nestles her head close to the baby's.

"It'll be different now your here," she smiles.

* * *

Mulder and Scully are called into Skinners office. He sits at his desk, his brow firm.

"You're late Mulder," he barks.

"Sorry sir."

"Damn it Agent, I don't have any hair left to lose!" He laughs.

"Do we have a case sir?" Scully asks. 

"I wanted to introduce you to Agent John Doggett and Agent Monica Reyes, they will be assisting you on the X Files."

* * *

Byers is asleep at his desk, the computer is on stand by.  
"Go to bed Byers, it's nearly 7am!" Langley says.

"Bit late for that," Frohike walks in, "Besides it's publishing day, cannot wait for the world to read my car that runs on water expose."

"Right, who knows. Maybe one day people will actually pay us for this hard work," Langley jokes.

"That'll be the day I give it up," Frohike says.

"Or sell out," Byers rubs his eyes.

"Hang on a second," Mulder answers his phone.

"Yeah, oh that's fantastic," he hangs up.

"That was my sister, she's coming to visit."


	13. Note from the author

Thank you for reading. I had alot of fun writing a story with all the twists and turns that one might find in an episode 

I adore the X files and wanted to celebrate and pay homage to it with this fiction. It is one of the most fantastic series I've seen, a timeless masterpiece.

Thank you for reading, leave Kudos and comments if you enjoyed. 

**Author's Note:**

> Im currently most of the way through the X files. I am playing around a little with the characters here. I hope you enjoy


End file.
